USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 3
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In the following year, Hudson re-entered the service of the London com- pany, in which he had made his two first northern voyages; designing to seek again, a north-west passage, through Davis' Straits; but his crew mutinied, and abandoned him, his only son, and some half-dozen of his men, who continued faithful, to perish amid the fields of ice, in the vicinity of the bay which bears his name.
Whilst in the North river, Hudson had much intercourse with the natives. Near the coast, they were fierce and inimical-at a distance from the sea, mild and hospitable. But the superior power of the Europeans was exer- cised upon friend and foe without merey. Of the former, one was shot to death, for a petty theft-and of the latter, nine were more deservedly slain, in an attack which they made upon the vessel. The first visit of the white man, therefore, to the shores of the Hudson, was signalized by the violent death of ten of the aboriginal inhabitants.
VIII. The Dutch East India Company, although disappointed in the main design of Hudson's voyage, found in the fur trade he had opened, suf- ficient inducement to cherish commercial intercourse with the Americans. A second voyage, under their authority, in 1610, proving successful, was repeated; but the competition of private adventurers reducing their profits, they endeavoured to monopolize the trade, by a decree of the States-Gene- ral, granting to all persons who had discovered, or might discover, any bays, rivers, harbours, or countries before unknown, the right, beside other ad- vantages, to the exclusive trade therein. for four successive voyages.§ Under . this edict the Amsterdam Licensed Trading West India Company was formed; proposing to maintain the acquisitions on the Hudson and to explore the circumjacent country.
In the service of this company, Adrian Blok and Hendrick Christianse sailed in the year 1614. Blok arrived first at Mannahattan, where, his ship having been accidentally burned, he built a small vessel, with which he passed into Long Island Sound. He fell in with Christianse near Cape Cod. Together, they discovered Rhode Island and Connecticut river; and procced- ing to Mannahattan Bay, they erected a fort on Castle Island, and four dwell- ings on the Greater Island. In the preceding year, a small trading house was built upon an island below Albany; and in the following, a redoubt was thrown up on the right bank of the river, probably, at the present Jersey City
* Hudson's Journal. See Note (A.)-Appendix.
t Lambrechsten, Moulton, Ebeling. # June 21. 1611.
§ De Laet, March 27, 1614; or as it is said 1611, 1612. Moulton, 310.
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Point .* The most important event of this period, however, was the alliance by formal treaty, between the Dutch and the Five Nation confederacy of In- dians ; at the execution of which, it is supposed, the Lenape tribes were also present, and by the united instances of the Dutch and Iroquois, consented to the fatal assumption of the character of the woman, in the manner we shall harrate hereafter.t
The Hollanders, directing their efforts at colonization, to their Asiatic, African and South American possessions, and restrained, perhaps, by the claim of the English, to the greater part of North America, had hitherto made little effort to people the shores of the Hudson. It has been asserted, how- ever, that between the years 1617 and 1620, settlements were made at Ber- gen, in New Jersey, in the vicinage of the Esopus Indians, and at Schenec- tady ; and it would seem, that Sir Thomas Dale and Sir Samuel Argal, in the year 1614, returning from an expedition against the French at Acadie, visited Mannahattan, and compelled the Dutch to acknowledge the English title, and to contribute to the payment of the expenses of their voyage. It would further seem, from the authorities cited in the margin, but which should be received with some allowance, that in 1620, the Dutch West Indian Company, upon application to James the First, of England, obtained leave to build some cottages upon the Hudson river, for the con- venience of the ships, touching there for fresh water and provisions, in their voyage to Brazil; under colour of which 'license, the company esta- blished a colony; and that, upon complaint to Charles I. of these procced- ings, he remonstrated with the States-General, who disowned the acts of the company .¿
IX. But, although the Dutch did not immediately, themselves, colonize the New Netherlands, (the name given to the country from the Delaware Bay to Cape Cod,) they were well disposed to aid others in such design; encouraging the Puritans, who, under the care of the Rev. John Robinson, had fled to the low countries from England, to seek a safe and more commodious asylum in the New World; notwithstanding these sectarians avowed an intention to preserve their national character, and to hold the title for the lands they should inhabit, in dependence on the English government. This germ of' the Plymouth colony, planted in 1620, was designed for the country between New York Bay and the western line of Connecticut. But the season at which the adventurers arrived on the coast, adverse winds and currents, with the discovery of a portion of the country, whence the aborigines had been lately swept, providentially, as the pilgrims supposed, by pestilence, induced them to land at a place, they termed Plymouth.§ The allegation, therefore, that Capt. Jones, with whom they sailed, had faithlessly, in consequence of' a brile from the Dutch, landed them at a distance from the Hudson, is not entitled to credence.
X. In 1621 the great West India Company was formed in Holland, and endowed with the wealth and power of the States-General. The Licensed Trading Company which had hitherto conducted commercial operations in the Hudson, confining themselves to one river and a small portion of the coast, was merged in the new company, to whom we may properly ascribe the first efforts of the Dutch to plant colonies in North America.|
They immediately despatched a number of settlers duly provided with the means of subsistence, trade, and defence, under the command of Cornelius
* De Laet, Moulton.
t Heckewelder.
: Beauchamp Plantagenet's description of New Albion-Moulton-British Empire in America-Ogilby's America-Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery.
§ Robertson. Dudley's letter. Moniton.
[[ See charter of this company in Hazard's Col.
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Jacobse Mey; who, with more enterprise and industry than his predecessors, visited the coast from Cape Cod to the Delaware river, where he proposed to establish his own residence. He called the bay of New York, Port May ; that of the Delaware, New Port May; its northern cape, Cape May; and its southern, Cape Cornelius. He built Fort Nassau at Techaacho, upon Sas- sackon, now Timber Creek, which empties into the Delaware, a few miles below the city of Camden. During the same year the forts New Amsterdam and Orange, were also erected upon the sites, of the now great cities, of New York and Albany.
The administration of the affairs of New Netherlands, was committed to Peter Minuit; with whom came a colony of Walloons, who settled, 1624-5, at the Walbocht, a bend of the Long Island shore, opposite to New Amster- dam. In 1626, Minuit opened a friendly and commercial intercourse with the Plymouth pilgrims; and prosecuted the fur trade with great advantage to the company.
XII. In 1629 the West India Company endeavoured to excite individual enterprise, to colonize the country ; granting by charter to the patroon or founder of a settlement, exclusive property, in large tracts of land, with ex- tensive manorial and seignorial right ... Thus encouraged, several of the directors, for whose use, probably, the charter was designed, among whom Goodyn, Bloemart, Pauuw and Van Renselaer were most distinguished, resolved to make large territorial acquisitions; and they sent out Wooter Van Twiller, of Niewer Kerck, a clerk of the Amsterdam department, of the com- pany, to assume the management of its public affairs, and to select lands for the individual directors.
One of the three ships which came over in 1629, visited an Indian village on the south-west corner of Delaware Bay; and the agents on board, pur- chased from the three chiefs of the resident tribe, in behalf of the Herr Goodyn, a tract of land, extending from Cape Henloop, in length thirty- two, and breadth two, English miles. In the succeeding year, several other extensive tracts were purchased; for Goodyn and Bloemart, of nine Indian chiefs, sixteen miles square, on the peninsula of Cape May; for the director Pauuw, Staten Island, and a large plat on the western side of the Hudson, in the neighbourhood of Hoboken; and for Van Renselaer, a considerable territory, along the Hudson, in the vicinity of Fort Orange.f The impolicy of these great and exclusive appropriations was, subsequently, discovered and condemned; and their ratification seems to have been obtained, only, by admitting other directors to participate in them.
XIII. In prosecution of their plans, these directors formed an association, . to which they admitted, on equal terms, David Pieterson de Vries, an expe- rienced and enterprising navigator. Their immediate object was to colonize the Delaware river, to plant tobacco and grain, and to establish a whale and seal fishery. The command of the vessel appointed to carry out the colo- nists was given to De Vries; who left the Texel on the 12th Dec. 1630, and arrived in the Delaware bay in the course of the winter. The country was deserted by the Europeans, who had preceded him. Fort Nassau was in possession of the Indians ; Captain Mey having left it, bearing with him the affectionate regrets of the natives, who long cherished his memory. De Vries selected a spot for his settlement, on Lewis Creek, called by the Dutch, on account of the prostitution of the Indian women here, Hoornekill; where, unimpeded by the season, which was uncommonly mild, he erected a trading
* Sce the charter in Moulton's History of New York.
t See Moulton's History of New York. The territory of Goodyn was denominated Swanwendael; that of Pauuw, Pavonia; and that of Van Renselaer, Renselaerwick
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house and fort, giving it the name of Oplandt. The whole plantation, within dinalyn's purchase, extended to the Little Tree Corner or Boompjes' Hock. *
Returning to Holland, he committed his infant colony to the care of one Giles Dort; who, in evidence of the claim and possession of the Dutch, set up the arms of the States-General, pamted on tin, upon a column, in some conspicuous station. An Indian, ignorant of the object of this exhibition, appropriated the honoured symbol to his own use. The folly of the com- mandant construed the trespass into a grievous national insult, and he be- came so importunate for redress, that the harassed and perplexed tribe brought him the head of the offender. This was a result which Osset had neither wished nor foreseen, and he should justly have dreaded its conse- quences. In vain he reprehended the severity of the Indians, and assured them that had they brought the delinquent to him, he would have suffered a reprimand only. Though the death of the culprit had been doomed and executed by his own tribe, they beheld its cause in the exaction of the strangers, and with the vindictiveness of their character, sought a dire retri- bution. At a scason when the greater part of the garrison was engaged in field labour, distant from the fort, the Indians entered it, under the pretence of trade, and murdered the unsuspicious Osset with the single sentinel who attended him. Thence, proceeding to the fields, they massacred every other colonist, whilst tendering to them the usual friendly salutations. This con- duet, with its extenuating circumstances, as related by the aborigines them- wives to De Vries, is sufficiently atrocious; but it is highly probable, that the desire of the white man's wealth was as powerful a stimulant to violence as the thirst for vengeance.
In December, 1632, De Vries returned from Holland, to mourn over the unburied bodies of his friends, and the ashes of their dwelling. Attracted by the firing of cannon, the savages approached his vessel with guilty hesitation ; but at length, summoned courage to venture on board, and to detail the cir- cumstances we have narrated. The object which De Vries had in view, led him to seek reconciliation; and he was compelled to pardon, where he could not safely punish. He formed a new treaty with the Indians; and in order to obtain provisions, ascended the river above Fort Nassau, where he nar- rowly escaped from the perfidy of the natives. Pretending to comply with his request, they directed him to enter Timmerkill or Cooper's Creek, which furnished a convenient place for attack; but, the interposition of an Indian woman, so often recorded in favour of the whites, saved him from destruc- tion. She warned him of the design of her countrymen, and that a crew of a vessel (supposed from Virginia) had been there murdered. In the mean time, Fort Nassau was filled with savages, and on the return of De Vries, forty boarded his vessel, whom he compelled to retreat; declaring that the Monitor or Great Spirit, had revealed their wickedness. But, subsequently, with the humane and pacific policy which distinguished him, he consented to their wishes of forming a treaty of amity; which they confirmned with cus- tomary presents, declining his gifts, however, saying, that they did not now give with the view of a return.t Disappointed in obtaining provisions, De Vries, leaving part of his crew in the bay, proceeded to Virginia; where, as the first visiter from New Netherlands, he was kindly received and his wants supplied. Upon his return to the Delaware, finding the whale fishery un- successful, he hastened his departure, and with the other colonists proceeded to Holland, by the way of Fort Amsterdam. Thus, at the expiration of
* Corrupted into Bombay Hook. De Vries, Moulton.
t De Vries' Journal. Moulton.
B
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twenty-five years from the discovery of the Delaware Bay, by Hudson, not a single European remained upon its shores.
XIV. It is possible, however, that the Minisink settlements on the river, above the Blue Mountain, were made at or near this period. They extend forty miles on both sides of the river, and the tradition, as rendered by Nicholas Depuis, a descendant of an original settler is; " That, in some for- " mer age, there came a company of miners from Holland, supposed to have " been rich and great people, from the labour they bestowed in opening two " mines-one on the Delaware, where the inountain nearly approaches the " lower point of Pahaquarry Flat, the other, at the north foot of some moun- " tain, half-way between Delaware and Esopus; and in making the mine " road from Delaware to Esopus, a distance of one hundred miles : That " large quantities of ore had been drawn upon this road, but of what metal, " was unknown to the present inhabitants: That, subsequently, settlers " came to the Minisinks from Holland, to seek an asylum from religious per- " secution, being Arminians: That they followed the mine road to the large " flats, on the. Delaware, where the smooth cleared land, and abundance of " large apple trees, suited their views, and they purchased the improvements " of the Indians, most of whom, then, removed to the Susquehanna : And that " the new settlers maintained peace and friendship with such as remained, " until the year 1755."* These settlements at the Minisinks were unknown to the government of Pennsylvania until 1729.
XV. It has been affirmed that the Swedes established a colony on the Delaware, in the year 1627, or 1631. This is an error, arising from the historian having mistaken the will for the deed; inferring that a colony had been established, immediately after the proposition for forming it, had been published in Sweden. The design had, indeed, been fondly encouraged by Gustavus Adolphus, but was not effected during his life. This prince fell at Lutzen, in 1632; and several years elapsed, before the ministers of his daughter, Christina, gave encouragement to the enterprise. The success of the Dutch West India Company had excited the Swedes to form a similar association, whose operations should extend to Asia, Africa, and America ;- and William Usselinx, or Usseling, a Hollander, who had been connected with the Dutch company, obtained the consent of Gustavus, to this measure.t Designing to plant a colony on the Delaware, he prepared and published articles of Association for that purpose, accompanied with a description of the fertility of the soil, and the commercial advantages of the country. The king, by proclamation, exhorted his subjects to unite with the company,} and recommended its plan to a diet of the States, by whom it was confirmed.§ Persons of every rank, from the king to the hiund, engaged in the scheme. An admiral, vice admiral, merchants, assistants, commissaries, and a mili- tary. force, were appointed, and the association received the name of the South Company ;- but the intervention of a German war, suspended its operations. |
From 1633 to 1637, no effort was made by any European power, to pco- ple the banks of the Delaware, unless during this period, Sir Edward Ploey- den, commeneed his ephemeral palatinate of New Albion. It is probable, however, that the Dutch visited the river, with a view to trade, and, occa- sionally, spent some time at Fort Nassau. That, they vigilantly observed the approach of other nations to these shores, is obvious, from the prompti-
* Letters of Samuel Preston, of Stockport, June 6th, and 14th, 1828, published in the Register of Pennsylvania, Vol. i. No. 25 .- July 12, 1-25. 1 21st December, 1621. # July, 1626. § 1627. || Campanius, Aurelius, Molton.
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tude of their remonstrances against the subsequent attempts of the English and Sweeles.
The Swedish project, so far as it relates to colonization on the Delaware, was, at length, revived by the Dutch ex-governor, Minuit, (who had been sprawled by Vouter van. Twiller,) under the immediate authority of the Swedish government. In 1637 or 1638, an expedition, consisting of the Key of Calman, a ship of war, and a transport named the Bird Grip, (Gryphen) carrying a clergyman, an engineer, and many settlers, with Iwvessary provisions, and merchandise for trade with the Indians, sailed under Minuit's command .* The emigrants landed at Inlopen, the inner cape on the western shore of the Delaware bay, to which they gave the name of Paradise Point-more, we must conjecture, from the pleasant emotions caused by the sight of any land, after a long sca-voyage, than from the beauty or fertility of the spot. They opened communications with the natives, on the bay and river, and purchased the soil, on the western shore, from the capes, to the falls at Sanhikans, below the present city of Trenton.
Soon after, in 1638, they laid the foundation of the town and fort of Christina, on a site called by the natives Hopohaccan, north of the Minquas, or Susperough creek, and a short distance above its mouth. f Not a ves- tige of this fort or town remains; but a plan of both, drawn by the engineer. Lindstrom, has been preserved by Campanius. In 1747, during the war of England against France and Spain, a redoubt was thrown up at this spot ; and at the distance of three feet below the surface, a Swedish coin of Chris- tina was found, among axes, shovels, and other implements.}
The author of Bescryringe van Netherlands, asserts, that Minuit entered the Delaware, under pretence of procuring refreshment, on his way to the West Indies, but betrayed the deception, by erecting this fort. The Dutch soon discovered the intrusion; and Kieft, who, about this time had succeeded Van Twiller, as governor of New York, remonstrated with Minuit, by letter, dated, May 6th, 1633; asserting, that the whole South river of New Nether- lands, had been in possession of the Dutch, for many years, above and below Christina-had been studded by forts, and sealed with their blood. This remonstrance was unreasonable and unwarrantable, if, as Campanius asserts, the Swedes had, in 1631, purchased the right of the Dutch. The allegation of purchase, may have induced forbearance on the part of the Dutch au- thorities, but did not deter them from erecting a fort soon after, at the Hoarkills.
During the year 1640, several companies of emigrants departed from Sweden, for the new world. Among the documents obtained from the Swedish records, by Mr. Russel, minister from the United States, at Stock- holm, we find, dated, January 24th, 1640, a passport to captain Jacob Pow- elson, for a vessel under his command, named Fredenburg, laden with men, cattle, and other things, necessary for the cultivation of the country, depart- ing from Holland to America, or the West Indies, and there establishing himself in the country called New Sweden. Two others were issued in blank, for other captains and their vessels. We learn, also, from a letter of the same date, addressed by the Swedish ministers to the commandant, or commissary, and other inhabitants of Fort Christina, in New Sweden, that permission had been granted to Gothbert de Reliden, William de Horst, und Fenland, and those interested with them, to send out and establish a
* Bescryvinge van Virginie, De Laet, Acrelius.
t Swedish MSS. Records, communicated by the Rev. Nicholas Collin.
# Kalm's Travels.
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colony on the north side of the South river. In a charter, or grant and privilege, as it is termed, of the same date, to this company, the name of Henry Hochhanmer, is substituted for that of Lieutenant Horst. From this instrument we derive the Swedish principles of colonization. An indefinite quantity of land is given to the company-at least four German miles, (about 15 English) from Fort Christina, in allodial and hereditary property ; they paying to the crown of Sweden, three florins of the empire, for each family established upon their territory. The company is empowered to exercise, within their district, high and low justice ; to found cities and vil- lages, and communities, with a certain police, statutes and ordinances-to appoint magistrates and officers, and to take the title and arms of a province or colony ; conforming themselves, in the use of these rights, to the principles directing the ordinary justice of fiefs. Reservation is made of full sove- reignty to the crown; and, especially, of appeals to it, and the governors established by it, whose approbation was necessary to all statutes and ordi- nances. Besides the Augsburg confession of faith, the exercise of the " pre- tended reformed" religion was permitted, in such manner, however, that those who professed either, should live in peace, abstaining from every useless dispute, from all scandal, and from all abuse. But the patrons of the colony were obliged, at all times, to maintain as many ministers and schoolmasters as the number of inhabitants should require; and to choose for this purpose, persons who had at heart, the conversion of the pagan inhabitants, to Chris- tianity.
Permission was given to the colonists to engage in every species of manu- facture and commerce, in and out of the country ; in vessels, however, which should be built in New Sweden. Gottenburg was made the depot for all merchandise transported to Europe; but merchants were not required to pass the Sound, when destined to some other part of Sweden. Entrance to foreign ports, however, was prohibited, unless in case of necessity ; and even in such case, merchants were required to repair to Gottenburg, to account for such entry, and to pay duty on merchandise, they might have sold else- where; and to equip their vessels anew. The colonists were exempted, for ten successive years, from every species of impost; but, after that period, were required to pay, in New Sweden, a duty of five per cent. on all im- ports,, and exports, and such further charges as the expenses of government, there, might require. The discoverer of minerals, precious stones, coral, crystal, marble, a pearl fishery, means for making salt, or other like things, was permitted the unrestricted use thereof, for ten years, and to enjoy, sub- sequently, a preferable right to possession. under an annual rent. Pro -. tection was promised to the colonies, in consideration whereof, fealty and allegiance were exacted. But the government expressed the desire, that the colonists and their posterity might be always exempt from enrolments and compulsory military service. Confiscation of property was prohibited: and fines, whatever might be the offence, were limited to forty rix-dollars; every other species of punishment, according to the quality of the offence, was re- served to the crown. And as the patrons of the colony designed, in a few years, to transport other and more considerable colonies, liberty was given to ship, directly from Holland, whatever they might require.
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